Julie Bowen, popularly known as Claire from Modern Family, doesn’t want the show to end but also admits that she cannot play the same character throughout her life. By Team Viva
Modern Family is a show that redefined what it means to be one. This ground-breaking comedy, centered around an extended family with a gay couple, a Columbian step-mother, and all their kids, now comes to an end with its 11th and final season. Excerpts of conversation with Julie Bowen aka Claire:
This is the last season. What did you take from the sets?
I started mourning on day one of the shooting of this season. I was sobbing. I was feeling that a long relationship was suddenly going to end. And so, I got some art work, which isn’t that fancy but it reminds me so much of the show. I took one of those ugly plates hung on the wall in the Dunphy house, which I’ve always hated.
Eleven years and it is finally over now. It is going to be very emotional, right?
Yes! I have already done a fair amount of crying but it always comes out of the blue. Whenever someone wants me to cry about it, I can’t. But I have definitely done the walking around and saying to people, ‘I love you. Working together has been amazing.’ But come that last day, I am out of here! I am gone. I am not hanging out for the crying fest because I imagine that to be like a big amoeba of weeping — people hugging each other and crying. I can’t do it. I would rather do it alone. As I mentioned, I had a hysterical crying fest the very first day. And that day for some reason, just wrecked me so much that I thought the season is going to be crazy but I was fine. But I predict that I will double down at the end.
You have been virtually pregnant the whole time you were doing Modern Family. Tell us about that.
I was pregnant with the twins at the very beginning of Modern Family, in the pilot episode. And I have to put three kids through school. The twins are 10 and the older one, 12. And now this is the last season so I will have plenty of time to explain stuff to them and spend time with them. Maybe, going over the shower procedure — nuts and pits. Can I say that? Although you have to go in some order.
You and Sophia have always been pitted against each other. While the other actors are nominated at the Emmys as Modern Family is always part of the conversation but it’s always the two of you who get it. And you’ve won two...
It is friendly. But as she would probably say, ‘Yes, you have two statues but I have a big bank account’, I’d be like ‘I would take her bank account or sell her a statue’.
Tell us about the character who you would miss the most?
Well, it has to be Phil. Of course, there is something that Ty Burrell has done with his character that has made him both odd and funny as well as the unicorn of TV dads.
What’s the most that you are going to miss about Claire?
Claire can day drink. And I cannot. She is able to have a glass of Chardonnay and be fine. It is so funny that people do like fan art and they send us really amazing ones. Claire’s symbolic one is blonde hair and a glass of wine. And I know that I could never be like that in reality. So I envy Claire’s ability to day drink but I will not miss her love for Halloween. I am amazed at people who love gore. Well, Claire loves it and takes it all the way. And it is quite fun to do those scenes, fun to scare people. Also, there are 70 professionals behind you pumping blood or making it look really gory. In my life, I hate putting up decorations which I will eventually have to take down.
Do you think that there’s some pressure on actors or writers to make the finale season great?
I think the writers surely feel it. Really heavily. But it’s equally on the actors as well because we have been doing this thing for 10 years and this is the 11th year. So, my goal is to deliver what we have been delivering for the last 10 years the best way possible to keep it memorable. Because we are never going to do it again!
Since this chapter ends, what’s next for you?
I am going to produce and do some directing. I like bargain. I don’t shop. I am a big saver because I don’t like that feeling of desperation waiting for the phone to ring with ‘Somebody hire me’. I don’t like that. I am going to try and produce a comedy for ABC, about female friendship. And then I am going to try and produce some other stuff that I am not allowed to talk about right now. It’s a bit hush-hush! Also, I am tired of being a mom. I do love it but do I want that to be my identity in the world all throughout my life? I would like to reclaim this situation for something other than mom-ing for a little while.
I could just seal this up and never act again but I love acting. Also, I like these shorter formats that they have now. Where you can be on a show for six episodes or do an anthology series. And yes, would surely do more behind the camera. This business isn’t very kind to women over 40 and I think that sometimes you do have to step away for a second, especially, after doing 11 years of Claire. I love Claire but I can’t be only Claire.
What do you think the legacy of the show is?
There is so much. When we began, there was no gay couple on television — a stable married gay couple on network TV who had an adopted child and that represented something so vastly different. It seems so normal now and I love that that’s been normalised and how we have almost forgotten how big a deal it was. This is the show that people sit down and turn on for comfort and laugh. I and my kids, we sit down and watch so many amazing shows like The Office, FRIENDS, or Seinfeld. We are so lost in these. And that what’s I want for people — to go ‘Oh! This feels like home.’
(The show’s season 11 airs every Saturday at 7 pm and all seasons every Monday-Friday at 8 pm on Star World.)